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Convention for -promot iii^ 
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AN 



TO THE 

, FREE PEOPLE OF COLOUR 
AND DESCENDANTS 
OF THE AFRICAN RACE, 
. IN THE UNITED STATES, 
BY THE 

AMERICAN CONVENTION 

FOR PROMOTING THE 

AND IMPROVING 

w 

THE CONDITION OF THE AFRICAN RACE. 



PHILADELPHIA, 
PRINTED FOR THE CONVENTION, 

BY HALL & ATKINSON, NO. 53, MARKET STREET, 

1819 



_ * 



The Acting Committee were directed by 
the American Convention, at a meeting held 
in Philadelphia, December 14th, 1818, to give 
publicity to the annexed Address. In perform- 
ing this duty, the Committee are induced to 
suggest to the Pastors of all coloured congre- 
gations, the propriety of having the Address 
read at the termination of one or more of their 
meetings for public worship. 

Signed by direction of the Committee. 

BENJAMIN TUCKER, 

Chairman 

Tuos. Shipley, Secretary. 

Philadelphia, 1 mo. {Jan.'] 7, 1813. 



AN 



TO THE 



FREE PEOPLE OF COLOUR, &g. 



The American Convention composed of Delegates 
from several Abolition and Manumission Societies 
in the United States, being assembled in Philadel- 
phia, for the purpose of promoting the great cause 
of emancipation, and for the melioration of the con- 
dition and the general improvement of the descen- 
dants of the African race; have deemed it their duty 
to address you, on some subjects intimately connect- 
ed with your future welfare and prosperity. They 
perform this duty the more willingly, from a con- 
viction that such counsel and advice as they mav 
communicate, will be received and listened to witla 
attention, from the. circumstance of its proceeding 
from those who have long had your best interests at 
heart. 

Vain will be the desire on the part of the friends 
of abolition, to behold their labours crowned with 
success, unless those coloured people who have ob- 
tained their freedom, should evince by their mora- 
lity and orderly deportment, that they are deserving 
the rank and station which thev have obtained in so- 



4 

ciety: unavailing will be the most strenuous exer- 
tions of humane philanthropists in your behalf, if you 
should not be found to second their endeavours, by 
a course of conduct corresponding with the expec- 
tations and the wishes of your friends. 

We intreat you therefore by the tics which bind 
us together as children of one common Creator; — 
by the obligation imposed upon us, as joint objects 
of redeeming love; as heirs alike with us, of the re- 
wards and benedictions which rest upon all who 
perform the religious and social obligations of life 
with fidelity; — by the sacred duties which you owe 
to yourselves, and to the Author of yourexistence; se- 
riously to consider the great responsibility which rests 
upon you as Fr e e m e n, so to order and regulate your 
conduct and deportment in the world and amongst 
men, that your example may exhibit a standing refu- 
tation of the charge, that you are unworthy of free- 
dom. And let us impress it upon you, whose oppor- 
tunities of information have been greater than the 
generality of your colour, to use the influence which 
your superior knowledge may have given you among 
your brethren, to dissuade them from the commis- 
sion and practice of those vices which degrade and 
disgrace them in the eyes of mankind; particularly 
let it be your constant endeavour to repress among 
them dram drinking, frequenting of tippling shops and 
places of diversion, idleness and dissipation of every 
description, and to promote and encourage as much 
as possible, habits of sobriety, industry and economy, 
punctual attendance on places of religious worship, 
particularly on the day appointed for rest from la- 
bour, and for the exercises of devotion; a\ oiding noisy 
and disorderly conduct on those days, as well as at 
other times; and to demean themselves peaceably 
and respectfully, towards all those with whom they 



have intercourse. This will do more, towards ad- 
vancing your cause in the earth, than the labours of 
your friends can effect in your behalf. 

The great work of emancipation is not to be ac r 
complished in a day;-— it must be the result of time, 
of long and continued exertions: it is for you to show 
by an orderly and worthy deportment that you are 
deserving of the rank which you have attained. En- 
deavour as much as possible to use economy in 
your expences, so that you may be enabled to save 
from your earnings, something for the education of 
your children, and for your support in time of sick- 
ness, and in old age: and let all those who by attend- 
ing to this admonition, have acquired the means, 
send their children to school as soon as they are old 
enough, where their morals will be an object of atten- 
tion, as well as their improvement in school learning; 
and when they arrive at a suitable age, let it be your 
especial care to have them instructed in some me- 
chanical art suited to their capacities, or in agricultu- 
ral pursuits; by which they may afterwards be 
enabled to support themselves and a family. En- 
courage also, those among you who are qualified as 
teachers of schools, and when you are of ability to 
pay, never send your children to free-schools; this 
may be considered as robbing the poor, of the op- 
portunities which were intended for them alone. 

Keep out of all contentions and law- suits with 
each other; by which your valuable time, which should 
be spent in useful occupations, is grievously misap- 
plied, your money is wasted, and your character in 
the world, is unhappily injured and degraded:— -it is 
a mortifying sight to your friends, to see the colour- 
ed people bringing each other before the civil officers 
and in courts of justice for trifling causes of conten- 



tion, which by exercising an amiable and forbear- 
ing disposition might be easily settled, without go- 
ing to law, and spending their time and money, in 
useless disputations. 

Be faithful to the obligations of the marriage co- 
venant. Be diligent in your respective callings, so 
that you may not disappoint the expectations of those 
who have confided in you, and in the capacity of 
domestics or hired servants, shew yourselves faith- 
ful; remembering that no situation in life is disgrace- 
ful in itself, but that upon your own conduct, will 
depend the estimation in which you will be. held by 
others; and if you perform your duty with fidelity, 
you will be respected and esteemed. Be just in all 
your dealings, and strictly punctual in the perfor- 
mance of all your promises; so shall you gain the 
approbation and the confidence of your white neigh- 
bours, and justify the conduct of those who have la- 
boured for your emancipation. 

Let an especial attention be had to keep a regular 
record of your marriages, and of the births of your 
children, by which their ages may at any time be legal- 
ly established; — this will be of essential service to 
you in placing them out as apprentices and pre- 
vent impositions being practised upon you. Final- 
ly — be sober; be watchful over every part of your 
conduct, keeping constantly in view, that the free- 
dom of many thousands of your colour, who still re- 
main in slavery, will be hastened and promoted by 
your leading a life of virtue and sobriety. 

Signed on behalf of the American Convention. 

KICHARD PETEliS, Jr. 
Attest — President 

Isaac M. Ely, Secretary. 

Philadelphia, Dec. 14, 1818. 



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